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683 tested positive for Covid-19 at screening camps in Mumbai slums since April

mumbaiUpdated: May 22, 2020 00:49 IST

Sagar Pillai

As the slums in the city have been more vulnerable to the Covid-19 outbreak, the civic body has been relying on screening camps to identify the positive cases of coronavirus. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has claimed that 683 positive cases have been identified through its 357 screening camps in slums across the city where it had identified 18,643 high-risk patients since April 14. Civic officials said that they have been focusing on isolating the maximum number of suspected cases from slums.

Meanwhile, the city’s total cases crossed the 25,000-mark on Thursday, with 1,382 new cases on Thursday taking the total tally to 25,500. The 41 deaths registered on Thursday has also escalated the city’s Covid-19 death toll to 882.

Of the 25, 500 cases in the city, 6, 751 patients have been recovered and discharged with 285 recovering on Thursday. Out of the 1382 cases reported on Thursday, 142 cases were reported between May 18 and May 19 in private labs

An analysis of age wise cases of patients who tested positive for Covid-19 in the city reveals that out of the 23, 847 cases in Mumbai, 9, 299, that is the maximum number of patients, are from the age group of 30 to 49 years, followed by 7131 patients from the age group of 50-69. The analysis also shows that 5, 317 patients from the age group of 10 to 29 years has the maximum recovery rate which is 35%a. This is followed by patients below the age of 10, which only comprise of 481 cases has a 32 percent recovery.

The G North ward, which includes Dadar, Dharavi and Mahim, has the highest number of cases in the city (1,880). At Dharavi, home to India’s largest slums, the cases have reached 1,425, as 47 new patients were found positive on Thursday. The mortality rate in Dharavi is around 4%.

Ward officials said that they have been identifying the maximum people and isolating them. Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner of G North ward, said, “We have screened around 4 lakh people in Dharavi and tested more than 3,500 residents. We are likely to find more cases as we increase the screening and testing. That is the only way to go forward.” The other areas in G North ward – Mahim and Dadar – recorded 263 and 192 total cases.

On Wednesday, a BMC press release stated that around 1,000 of its teams have been conducting house-to-house surveys across the slums areas in all 24 administrative wards. Suspected patients are referred to local civic dispensaries or Covid Care Centre-1 (CCC-1) facilities.

“So far, 58,14,340 houses are surveyed and 7,447 suspect cases are referred till date. Through this, 52,798 high risk contacts of patients from slums areas are also identified, of which 36,167 contacts are quarantined in institutions,” the release stated.